Stevens, however, was upset about leaving basketball. He coached a summer camp at Butler after graduating, then accepted an offer to become a volunteer assistant for the men’s basketball team in 2000.

Stevens took up a job at Applebee’s to make money while volunteering. But the day before training, he was promoted to director of basketball operations because an assistant coach was arrested for soliciting a prostitute (charges were later dropped).

Stevens made just $18,000 a year, spending about 14 hours a day logging footage of defensive tendencies. Stevens called it, “as enjoyable a year as I ever had.”

In 2007, Stevens was promoted to head coach of Butler after previous head coach Todd Lickliter left to coach the University of Iowa. Butler went 30-4 in his first season as head coach.

During the 2009-10 season, Butler went 33-5 and made an impressive run to the NCAA Tournament to reach the championship game.

In the championship, they lost a classic to Duke, falling 61-59, as Gordon Hayward’s halfcourt heave missed at the buzzer.

The following season, Stevens and Butler went 28-10 and made another run through the NCAA Tournament. They eventually lost the championship game to Connecticut.

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Stevens coached two more years at Butler, going a cumulative 49-26. Along the way, several schools tried to poach him, with UCLA most notably offering him as much as $3 million per year. Stevens reportedly made as much as $750,000 in 2010 with Butler.

However, it was the Celtics that pulled Stevens away from Butler in the summer of 2013 with a six-year, $22 million offer.

After going 25-57 for the rebuilding Celtics in his first year, Stevens and the team hit a stride after trading for Isaiah Thomas in 2014. In the last two seasons, the Celtics have gone 101-63 while Thomas has become an All-Star.

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The Celtics finished first in the East in 2016-17, going 53-29. They advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals, and shockingly won Game 3 over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland on Sunday, even with Thomas out with a hip injury.

Celtics Blog recently dubbed Stevens an “ATO [After Timeout] Genius” for his clever inbounds plays. The game-winner he drew up for Avery Bradley in Game 3 was impressive.

The Celtics have perhaps the brightest future in the NBA, thanks in part to Stevens. He’s proven he can win with any amount of talent, and they have this year’s No. 1 draft pick and cap space this summer. The Celtics are considered a landing spot for Hayward because of his connection with Stevens.